Ben Affleck's 'Animals' Draws $7 Million Kidnap Plot, Low-Rent Remake Criticism

Q: What is the ludicrous twist ending in Ben Affleck's new kidnapping thriller that critics claim completely destroys the suspense?

The “ludicrous” ending critics are referring to is that Mark Kimball survives the ransom bloodbath, leaves the wounded fixer Dayle to die, keeps her $7 million, then rewrites the whole kidnapping as a heroic rescue story that boosts his campaign and helps him win the Los Angeles mayor’s race. The film’s late twist is not just that the kidnappers took the wrong child — Hector, the son of the family’s employee, rather than Mark’s own son Denny — but that after the violent showdown, Mark allegedly turns the disaster into political capital. Reviews and plot breakdowns say Ramon, Hector’s father, is the one who actually kills the kidnappers and saves his son, yet Mark takes public credit for the rescue. Critics argue this ending wrecks the suspense because it turns the thriller into a cynical cover-up that many found both implausible and heavily telegraphed. Instead of a morally tense finale, the movie reportedly lands on a far-fetched scenario in which Mark emerges richer, publicly heroic, and politically strengthened, while the people who really paid the price — especially Ramon and his family — are pushed aside.

2 articles · Updated · Yahoo! Voices · Oct 9

Netflix's newly streaming thriller "Animals" was panned as a lifeless, low-budget reworking of Akira Kurosawa's 1963 classic "High and Low," with reviewers saying it adds little suspense or originality.
Ben Affleck stars, directs and co-wrote the film, which follows a Los Angeles mayoral candidate whose son is kidnapped and whose family is told to produce $7 million overnight.
The review says the movie telegraphs its central twist, leaves its moral dilemmas flat and gives most of its ensemble—including Kerry Washington, Steven Yeun and Gillian Anderson—thin material.
Luis Gerardo Méndez was singled out as the main standout, while the film's broader execution was criticized as fake, redundant and emotionally inert.
"Animals" also drew notice because Affleck has said he used AI for parts of the production, a detail the review argued matched the film's impersonal feel.